Absolute Destiny Game
Chapter 372 - 18: Front Row, Second Line, Outer Circle, and Resolving

Chapter 372: Chapter 18: Front Row, Second Line, Outer Circle, and Resolving

[System Notification: Your guild has successfully destroyed the demon race stronghold, Hundred Wolves Cave. Based on your performance in this battle, your reputation in Luoyang Town has increased by 1050 points, now respected at 2050/3000, and in Fengyin State your reputation value has increased by 650 points, now respected at 875/3000.]

[World Announcement (Fengyin State): Following the successive killing of the Wolf King and a mysterious entity hidden deep within the Hundred Wolves Cave, the cave is temporarily in ruins and will no longer respawn BOSS level units.

The adventure level of the Moon Howling Forest is reduced from level 15-25 to level 12-18, and a new group of monsters known as the ’Wandering Wolf Demon Gang’ has been added to the Luoyang Plain. The power level of Black Wind Mountain has increased after absorbing some scattered Wolf Soldiers...]

Listening to the sequence of system notifications, Xiao Jie knew that they had once again influenced the game world.

Perhaps in the time to come, this effect would gradually manifest itself, and the Hundred Wolves Cave would welcome a new master to transform into another monster force’s nest. However, that was a matter for the future.

At this moment, the players of the Luoyang Branch were jubilantly galloping back on the road to the city, each of them immensely satisfied with their gains.

As they returned to Luoyang Town and entered the city gate, Xiao Jie was startled by the crowd of players gathered near the gate. Holy smokes, why are they all waiting here?

The players stared eagerly at the triumphantly returning Dragon Soaring Knights.

As soon as Hidden Dragon entered the city, he was immediately surrounded by players requesting to join the guild.

"Hidden Dragon, I want to join the guild. How do I apply?"

"White Dragon, are you still accepting new members?"

"Level 15 Swordman, please take me in!"

Managing to take down a monster force like the Hundred Wolves Cave clearly indicated enormous gain. Especially seeing that the team had hardly suffered any losses on their departure, it was obviously a reliable guild worth joining.

Those who had made it this far clearly had some discernment and naturally seized the moment. Many had hesitated to randomly join guilds before, partly due to the fear of new members being treated as cannon fodder. Now, however, they had set aside some of these concerns.

While Hidden Dragon was busy recruiting, others were busy resting and repairing, but Xiao Jie took himself to the Training Ground.

It was necessary to properly digest the gains from this time.

First, he summoned Big Orange.

Seeing Big Orange’s upgraded level made his heart leap with joy—group battles indeed leveled you up faster. He had just advanced to level 8 and gained 10 attribute points.

This time Xiao Jie needed to be much more careful with his points allocation. Equipment was vital for combat, and just increasing health wasn’t enough.

Xiao Jie decided to use the 334 point allocation method.

points to Constitution, 3 to Strength, 3 to Agility, prioritizing survival while dual focusing on strength and agility.

Tigers weren’t quite suitable as pure tanks, and pursuing a purely agility-based path wasn’t practical either. A dual focus on strength and agility was better, ensuring flexibility while maintaining sufficient offensive capability.

Once upgraded to level 10 and having gained evolution points, unlocking the Demonization Talent, his combat power would immediately surge.

However, that was for later. Before that, Xiao Jie still had to summarize today’s battle experience.

This was a habit he had developed when he was the guild leader; after every raid, he would gather members to distill insights. Now, even on his own, he couldn’t overlook it.

Only by continuously learning from lessons and strengthening weaknesses could one grow and become stronger.

Although they had won today, it must be admitted that luck played a part. Even though he was nearly certain that triggering the Super Secret Technique would kill Dong Lingzi, or that it would definitely activate, he wasn’t entirely sure.

Such uncertainty needed to be minimized in games, especially in these lethal games where a lost bet meant no second chance.

This time it was a necessary risk, plus he had the Heavenly King Life-saving Pill, making it a bet worth taking.

However, life-saving items like the Heavenly King Life-saving Pill weren’t always applicable for each BOSS battle.

Unfortunately, this game lacked forums for looking up game guides or sharing experiences. Previously, everything had to be self-figured which was fortunate as the Dragon Soaring Knight’s internal database contained analyses of abilities for different professions, deconstructions of game content, and in-depth study of gameplay.

Previously, as a Guest Elder, Xiao Jie couldn’t access these data, but now as a ’core personnel,’ he finally could uncover its true face.

Upon opening the database and downloading the content related to BOSS, his understanding deepened, benefiting immensely.

This game didn’t have traditional tanking professions designed solely for facing BOSSes, as monsters had too high intelligence, making taunting skills hardly effective in retaining their attention.

Moreover, the BOSSes were too powerful, making it unrealistic for one person to withstand a monster.

Thus, there’s no such thing as a ’Tank’.

But there were similar roles—those were known as ’front row’ or ’first line,’ meaning the players who were at the forefront of the battle, directly engaging the BOSS.

Correspondingly, there were ’second line’ supporting professions and roles.

’Outer Circle’ managed smaller monsters, maintaining an atmosphere of deceptive power.

"Resolving" is usually a role reserved for nobles of the magic profession, focusing on resolving specific phases of a battle without directly engaging in combat.

The "front row" is most critical, requiring not only strong survival capabilities but also high damage output; otherwise, the Boss simply ignores you.

This leads to only the top players within the guild being able to take on this important role.

The front row is divided into three types: strength type, tank type, and agility type.

Strength type in the front row relies on powerful strength to confront the Boss directly, typically generals, Iron Guards, or Berserkers, using pole arms or heavy weapons. They depend on their ability to reduce resilience, continually staggering the Boss while using their great strength to block attacks with shields or weapons, creating opportunities for the second line to deal damage.

Tank type in the front row focuses on having a lot of health and endurance, generally allocating points to Constitution, cultivating skills like Vajra Unbreakable Divine Skill, and coupled with skills or equipment that can restrain the Boss, they engage in relentless close combat.

Agility type in the front row demands the highest control skills, primarily enhancing the agility attribute. They do not need much health; just enough to withstand two or three hits from the Boss. Some even audaciously avoid building health, focusing entirely on agility, mainly relying on dodges. They continuously evade the Boss’s attacks with nimble body movements, finding opportunities to deal damage, forcing the Boss to engage them without being able to kill them.

Clearly, Xiao Jie belonged to this type; when confronting Bosses in the past, he could generally avoid being defeated.

However, the Boss today had an enormous attack range and was extremely fast, which made it clearly hard to withstand.

Of course, a significant reason was the level difference; after all, he was only level 20, while the Boss was a full 33 levels.

However, fighting higher-level monsters is a common occurrence in this game.

According to the suggestions in the data, a fully developed agility type front row should have agility over 100, reducing the character’s motion delay to one-twentieth of a frame, ensuring instantaneous reactions even when up against Bosses above level 30 in close combat.

They must also master more than three advanced body movement skills to dodge different attack patterns of the Boss.

Additionally, they need to know at least two advanced light skills to maintain contact with the Boss and prevent being thrown off.

And they must possess at least one advanced martial art and one ’Slashing Skill’—a skill capable of dealing massive damage instantly to the Boss, ensuring the Boss sees them as a threat.

Looking at it this way, Xiao Jie suddenly realized his shortcomings. Agility could slowly be increased, he had enough Slashing Skills, and his light skills were adequate, but he was still lacking in body movement skills. Skills like Hawk Roll or Lazy Donkey Roll were basic, and against speed-type Bosses, it was easy to get caught.

Phantom Traceless was good, but its 3-second cooldown was a liability; if caught in a sequence, it could be disastrous.

So, the most important thing now was to acquire one or two more advanced body techniques, to be used in tandem with Phantom Traceless during its cooldown, ensuring seamless transitions between displacement skills.

His agility could gradually be increased to 100 before level 30.

By then, his role as an agility type front row would be solidified, and he could easily handle creatures like Dong Lingzi.

Closing the data, Xiao Jie pondered for a moment, planning to also arrange some improvement directions for his teammates.

He wasn’t very worried about Ye Luo; that sister never risks herself, always staying out of the ’front row’ and often not even qualifying as second line, more akin to outer circle or Resolving role.

I Want to Be Immortal, however, posed a problem. He was reckless with a penchant for aggressive actions, and while his control skills were just above average, he could easily face danger against tough opponents.

Thinking this, Xiao Jie sent a private message to Cheng Xian.

Hidden Moon Following Wind: Cheng Xian, what are you up to? If you’re free, come to the Martial Arts Arena. I have something to discuss.

I Want to Be Immortal: I’m at the auction house, will be there soon.

Soon after, I Want to Be Immortal appeared at the entrance of the Martial Arts Arena, and the two met. Xiao Jie shared the data he had just reviewed.

"I think this analysis of the game is quite sound—this game is different from traditional online games, and finding the right role is crucial. Do you plan to be in the front row in the future?" Xiao Jie explained the three definitions of front row to I Want to Be Immortal.

I Want to Be Immortal hesitated for a moment but soon made up his mind.

"I’ve decided to be a front row!"

It was clear that being in the outer circle was synonymous with being a mere filler, barely getting any decent items.

The second line was slightly better, but only just. Unless one was a professional long-ranger like Little White Dragon, the chances to stand out were slim.

Resolving was reserved for Masters of Magic, not even worth considering without the right skills.

To get the good stuff, to make a name for oneself, one could only aim to be in the front row, practically a definition of being an elite.

"Then before you reach level 30, you must increase your strength to over 100 points. This way, during a confrontation with the Boss, your combat skills will effectively stagger the Boss. Also, increase your health to over 800, better yet over 1000, to have enough margin for error. And you must have high resilience so you can withstand the Boss’s attacks.

You’ll also need skills in reducing resilience, defense, and damage reduction... Only with these will you be able to hold your ground against Bosses above level 30."

Xiao Jie elaborated to I Want to Be Immortal, who felt overwhelmed.

But upon further thought, it wasn’t impossible. He had the Talent of Thousand Catties of Strength, could easily wear Heavy Armor, and definitely wouldn’t lack resilience. As for the rest, he could always find a way to make up for them.

Actually, the biggest problem was money—all these skills and equipment required spending.

"I think the requirements on this data are quite reasonable; you also participated in today’s battle, and you’ve seen Dong Lingzi’s strength. Without enough power, it’s very easy to fail, and today was an unexpected event, fighting above our level. In the future, as our levels increase, we must fight higher-level monsters for experience, and it’s likely we will repeatedly encounter such strong opponents. So if you really have this intention, you need to work toward this direction."

"Don’t worry, Feng, I’ll do it." I Want to Be Immortal solemnly said.